show and also we're joined by michael korda who is president and general counsel for the national whistleblower center as well as a reporter and columnist james kirchick so welcome to the program all of you and let me yes let me address our gas first michael calling and and james kirchick sir michael please tell us quickly your position on bradley manning to just to turn the stand what actually your grounds. mr manning in the middle of room war he acted out of. he did not go about it the right way however the government overreach when to charge him with espionage he was not involved as he was involved with the leak of classified information and i think the government has overplayed its hand and i'll be very disturbed if the sentence is anything near what the government is seeking yet james and let me ask you the same the same position establishing question. yeah well harvey firestone is a very famous american playwright and after he said that being silent in the face of evil something that we can't do and so and you know being here on a kremlin funded propaganda network i'm going to wear my gay pride

benign as charges if he does step on american soil stephen cohen executive director of the national whistleblower center says if it wasn't for snowden u.s. officials would continue to try to downplay the surveillance issue. one of mr snowden's most important allegations was that the high level officials in the n.s.a. lied to congress the american people i think it's been consistent and they've been speaking very hypocritically on the one hand they say it's not important on the other hand they say it's treason why does it are these truthful and important allegations or are they trivial if they're trivial why are they hounding down mr snowden. everywhere they can find them so i think these allegations are very significant but i think the attempt to downplay it is hypocritical and i think that a major debate has been initiated that serves the public interest about the need to protect whistleblowers the rights of intelligence agency whistleblowers and the legality of the surveillance activities and snowden's revelations continue to send reverberations around the world is published leaks show that telecom jo

manning and we're also joined by michael cohen he's president and general counsel for the national whistleblower center and also leader of the power of party in the u.k. laws ok. this is a leak of classified information and very upset with my government having charged him with espionage is over reaching it's trying to clamp down on a society society saying if you try to release information we're going to go after it was hard as we can and instead of doing a balancing test and looking at the nation's right to freedom of speech in the first amendment versus the government's legitimate need to protect it do you view his relationship with wiki leaks as a mistake in that respect do you see him as a principled whistleblower who simply made the wrong call choosing the wrong publisher of the wrong platform. absolutely it was new on the blog no one under stood exactly what it was or how it was going to fully respond to information that was. gone through congress he would not be sitting in a jail cell. and that is a great shame the leaks themselves i mean there's a it's been described by critics at least within

history general counsel at the national whistleblowing center david cole a pinto believes that government agencies are now keeping a close eye on would be whistleblowers their overreaction to the bradley manning case has been just to clamp down on or types of whistle blowing and that that's unfortunate there have been some advance moments in the law in the non national security or intelligence area but that's being drawn wharf by the overreaction to this and also there's been an attack on the media not just in the intelligence community but all government agencies have been faced with a crackdown on whistleblowers because the obama administration sent out a warning to all agencies to be on the lookout for leakers and to identify the leakers before they happen in response to the manning case supporters of bradley manning have started an online campaign for those willing to reduce his sentence by serving part of it themselves and it's already gathered more than seven thousand five hundred signatures over the years of public support of the whistleblower has remained high with activists acros

history general counsel at the national whistleblowing center david cole opin toe believes that government agencies are now keeping a close eye on would be whistleblowers. there over reaction to the bradley manning case has been just to clamp down on or types of whistle blowing and that that's unfortunate there have been some advance moments in the law in the non national security or intelligence area but that's being to wharf by the overreaction to this and also there's been an attack on the media not just in the intelligence community but all government agencies have been faced with a crackdown on whistleblowers because the obama administration sent out a warning to all agencies to be on the lookout for leakers and to identify the leakers before they happen in response to the manning case supporters of bradley manning have started an online campaign for those willing to reduce his sentence by serving part of it themselves and it is already gathered more than seven thousand five hundred signatures over the years of public support of the whistleblower has remained high with activists acros

we discussed the case with stephen kohn of the national whistleblowers center. host: stephen kohn of the national whistleblowers center. thank you for being here. what is the center? guest: we provide advice for whistleblowers. i have represented whistleblowers for over 30 years. and a lot of people blow the whistle and make big mistakes and the key is to do it right so you can protect yourself. host: this is a headline, bradley manning just received his convictions yesterday. we saw him declared not guilty of aiding the enemy. he was found guilty of a number of other counts. what is your reaction to the verdict? guest: my reaction is mixed. the aiding and abetting charge i think thee top. prosecutor to be disciplined. a whistleblower does not aid and abet the enemy. a whistleblower does not engage in espionage. if you are a spy, they should be dealt with harshly. you should not confuse the two. this was a case of a young man who made some mistakes in exposing wrongdoing. he was not a spy or enemy combatant of some sort. host: what defines a whistleblower? guest:

whistleblower edward snowden. controversial attention in london is the latest episode in the snowden saga. he has revealed details about the u.s. national security agency and the uk government's communications center, gchq. a problemas caused between president obama and president putin. now, brazil is criticizing britain. >> what you are referring to is a law enforcement action taken by the british government. the united states was not involved in that decision or in that action. >> david maranda was held under what is known as schedule seven of the 2000 terrorism act. people can be questioned for up to nine hours without a lawyer. property like laptops and phones can be see used, and the contents downloaded. last year, just over 61,000 people were stopped at ports and airports under schedule seven, but just 24 people were actually arrested. home officent, the said schedule seven forms an essential part of uk security arrangements. it is for the police to decide when it is necessary and proportionate to use these powers. but there is concern that there are too many of these stops at ports and airports. among those -- >> it is extremely extension. extremeong the most powers the police have. we do h

whistleblower edward snowden. controversial attention in london is the latest episode in the snowden saga. he has revealed details about the u.s. national security agency and the uk government's communications center, gchq. a problemas caused between president obama and president putin. now, brazil is criticizing britain. >> what you are referring to is a law enforcement action taken by the british government. the united states was not involved in that decision or in that action. >> david maranda was held under what is known as schedule seven of the 2000 terrorism act. people can be questioned for up to nine hours without a lawyer. property like laptops and phones can be see used, and the contents downloaded. last year, just over 61,000 people were stopped at ports and airports under schedule seven, but just 24 people were actually arrested. home officent, the said schedule seven forms an essential part of uk security arrangements. it is for the police to decide when it is necessary and proportionate to use these powers. but there is concern that there are too many of these stops at ports and airports. among those -- >> it is extremely extension. extremeong the most powers the police have. we do h